Monday, February 25, 2019

Iris Häussler's Wax Museum

Iris Häussler is known for her revealment of biographies, either real or
fictional, through objects and their arrangements. One may view the roots of her methodology in this exhibition of worksfrom the 1990s comprising fabric Häussler
encased in canvas-shaped wax sculptures. Most compelling is a series that refers
to the family vis a vis their laundry. Take Mutter, 1998, for example, in
which blood-coloured, abstract-patterned fabric leaves the work open to
multiple interpretations, including for some viewers the biological blood of
family. While wax as encasement of personal history reads literally enough not
to warrant further ponderance, wax as material evinces the shapes and forms
that constitute the everyday in such a way that one is free to insert memories and associations into these lyrical objects.